Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls – Marvel Superheroes as Interactive Anime

Arc System Works and Sony Interactive Entertainment have released Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a fighting game for PlayStation 5 and PC that transforms Marvel superheroes into an interactive anime. The game's visual style, described as 'playable anime', blends American comics with Japanese animation. Art Director Kenta Kurosaka noted the challenge of capturing the essence of American comics, while Senior Art Director Hidehiko Sakamura explained that the game uses 3D models but is designed to look like traditional 2D hand-drawn anime, with dynamic silhouettes and anime-style timing. The story mode features five episodes written by Kieron Gillen, each illustrated by a different artist, including manga artist Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) and Italian artist Emanuela Lupacchino (L'Insonne), with colors by David Curiel. The game's characters behave according to their Marvel powers: Captain America uses his shield, Spider-Man uses webs, and Deadpool breaks the fourth wall. Producer Takeshi Yamanaka stated that Sony and Marvel supervised every part of the game from early design. This title represents the culmination of decades of research, dating back to Jet Set Radio (Sega, 2000), to bring flat shading, sharp outlines, and anime-style animation into 3D games.